"You"ve said it," says the starter. "He could do about what he likes around this buildin", Mr. Dowd could."
"Eh?" says I. "The Hon. Matt?"
"Good guess!" says the starter. "You must know him."
"Rather," says I. "Him and my boss are old chums. Golf cronies, too.
Thanks. I guess that"ll be all."
"But how about that sport census?" asks the starter.
"It"s finished," says I, makin" a quick exit.
And by the time I"m back in the private office once more I"ve untangled all the essential points. Why, it was only two or three days ago that the Hon. Matt broke in on Old Hickory and gave him an earful about his latest discovery in the golf line. I"d heard part of it, too, while I was stickin" around waitin" to edge in with some papers for Mr. Ellins to sign.
Now what was the big argument? Say, I"ll be driven to take up this Hoot-Mon pastime myself some of these days. Got to if I want to keep in the swim. It was about some particular club Dowd claimed he had just learned how to play. A mashie-niblick, that was it. Said it was revealed to him in a dream--something about gripping with the left hand so the knuckles showed on top, and taking the turf after he"d hit the ball.
That gave him a wonderful loft and a back-spin.
And I remember how Old Hickory, who was more or less busy at the time, had tried to shunt him off. "Go on, you old fossil," he told him. "You never could play a mashie-niblick, and I"ll bet twenty-five you can"t now. You always top "em. Couldn"t loft over a bow-legged turtle, much less a six foot bunker. Yes, it"s a bet. Twenty-five even. But you"ll have to prove it, Matt."
And Mr. Dowd, chucklin" easy to himself, had allowed how he would. "To your complete satisfaction, Ellins," says he, "or no money pa.s.ses. And within the week."
As I takes another look down at the little gra.s.s plot on the roof I has to admit that the Hon. Matt knew what he was talkin" about. He sure had turned the trick. Kind of clever of him, too, havin" the window marked and all that. And puttin" the "Ha, ha!" message on the ball.
I was still over by the window, sort of smilin" to myself, when Old Hickory walks in, havin" concluded to absorb only a sandwich and a gla.s.s of milk at the arcade cafeteria instead of goin" to his club.
"Well, young man," says he. "Have you any more wise deductions to submit?"
"I"ve got all the dope, if that"s what you mean, sir," says I.
"Eh?" says he. "Not who and what and why?"
I nods easy.
"I don"t believe it, son," says he. "It"s uncanny. To begin with, who was the man?"
"Don"t you remember havin" a debate not long ago with someone who claimed he could pull some wonderful stunt with a mashie-niblick?" says I.
"Why," says Old Hickory, "with no one but Dowd."
"You bet him he couldn"t, didn"t you?" I asks.
"Certainly," says he.
"Well, he can," says I. "And he has."
"Wha-a-at!" gasps Old Hickory.
"Uh-huh!" says I. "It was him that shot in the ball with the Ha, ha!
message on it."
"But--but from where?" he demands.
"Look!" says I, leadin" him to the window.
"The old sinner!" says Mr. Ellins. "Why, that must be nearly one hundred feet, and almost straight up! Some shot! I didn"t think it was in him.
Hagen could do no better. And think of putting it through a window.
That"s accuracy for you. Say, if he can do that in a game I shall be proud to know him. Anyway, I shall not regret handing over that twenty-five."
"It"ll cost him nearly that to set another pane of plate gla.s.s," I suggests.
"No, Torchy, no," says Old Hickory, wavin" his hand. "Any person who can show such marksmanship with a golf ball is quite welcome to---- Ah, just answer that "phone call, will you, son?"
So I steps over and takes down the receiver. "It"s the buildin"
superintendent," says I "He wants to speak to you, sir."
"See what he wants," says Old Hickory
And I expect I was grinnin" some when I turns around after gettin" the message. "He says somebody has been shootin" golf b.a.l.l.s at the south side of the buildin" all the forenoon," says I, "and that seventeen panes of gla.s.s have, been smashed. He wants to know what he shall do."
"Do?" says Old Hickory. "Tell him to send for a glazier."
CHAPTER XVII
NO LUCK WITH AUNTIE
Well, I expect I"ve gone and done it again. Queered myself with Auntie.
Vee"s, of course. You"d most think I"d know how to handle the old girl by this time, for we"ve been rubbin" elbows, as you might say, for quite a few years now. But somehow we seldom hit it off just right.
Not that I don"t try. Say, one of the big ambitions of my young life has been to do something that would please Auntie so much that no matter what breaks I made later on she"d be bound to remember it. Up to date, though, I haven"t pulled anything of the kind. No. In fact, just the reverse.
I"ve often wished there was some bureau I could go to and get the correct dope on managin" an in-law aunt with a hair-trigger disposition.
Like the Department of Agriculture. You know if it was boll-weevils, or cattle tick, or black rust, all I"d have to do would be to drop a postcard to Washington and in a month or so I"d have all kinds of pamphlets, with colored plates and diagrams, tellin" me just what to do.
But balky aunts on your wife"s side seem to have been overlooked.
Somebody ought to write a book on the subject. You can get "em that will tell you how to play bridge, or golf, or read palms, or raise chickens, or bring up babies. But nothin" on aunts who give you the cold eye and work up suspicions. And it"s more or less important, "specially if they"re will-makin" aunts, with something to make wills about.
Not that I"m any legacy hound. She can do what she wants with her money, for all of me. Course, there"s Vee to be considered. I wouldn"t want to think, when the time comes, if it ever does, that her Auntie is with us no more, that it was on account of something I"d said or done that the Society for the Suppression of Jazz Orchestras was handed an unexpected bale of securities instead of the same being put where Vee could cash in on the coupons. Also there"s Master Richard Hemmingway. I want to be able to look sonny in the face, years from now, without having to explain that if I"d been a little more diplomatic towards his mother"s female relations he might he startin" for college on an income of his own instead of havin" to depend on my financin" his football career.
Besides, our family is so small that it seems to me the least I can do to be on good terms with all of "em. "Specially I"d like to please Auntie now and then just for the sake of--well, I don"t go so far as to say I could be fond of Auntie for herself alone, but you know what I mean. It"s the proper thing.
At the same time, I wouldn"t want to seem to be overdoin" the act. No.
So when it"s a question of whether Auntie should be allowed to settle down for the spring in an apartment hotel in town, or be urged to stop with us until Bar Harbor opened for the season, I was all for the modest, retirin" stuff.
"She might think she had to come if she was asked," I suggests to Vee.